Envisioning agricultural sustainability from field to plate: Comparing producer and consumer attitudes and practices toward ‘environmentally friendly’ food and farming in Washington State, USA

Land Managers’ Heterogeneity in Mediterranean Landscapes - Consistencies and Contradictions Between Attitudes and Behaviors

“…It is composed mainly by younger people with higher education level, more conscious towards the environment and nature. These findings may reflect the view in some literature, which argues that younger land managers with higher levels of formal education are more open to new ideas and diversification, more willing to invest in pollution reduction (Schmitzberger et al, 2005) and more likely adopt new technologies and management practices (Selfa et al, 2008). In opposition older farmers, with lower education level tend to have more traditional notions of farming and agriculture and may, therefore, be more productivist than their younger counterparts (Burton & Wilson, 2006).…”

“…Differences between attitude and actual behavior have been repeatedly mentioned (e.g. Kaltenborn & Bjerke, 2002;Selfa et al, 2008;Elen et al, 2013;, and this study is an example of it. An example of this inconsistency, already described in literature (Rodrigo & Veiga, 2009; is the low non-productivist Montado supporters attitude, which strongly express their support for the traditional system, revealing an attitude of protection towards the Montado system, however some of their actions (low productivist Cattle entrepreneurs behavior) are mainly focused on intensification by increasing cattle grazing density or the artificialization of the system.…”

“…Besides attitudes other factors as childhood experience, particularly if is an urban background or not, the age, the level of education, may have a key influence of the behaviors (Richards & van der Ark, 2013;Damianos & Skuras, 1996;Marcellini et al, 2007;Luzar & Diagne, 1999;Swanwick, 2009;Kaltenborn & Bjerke, 2002;Selfa et al, 2008). Furthermore, the results also show inconsistencies at the spatial level as productivist action and thought can co-exist alongside non-productivist patterns (Burton & Wilson, 2006;Marsden & Sonnino, 2008;Herzfeld & Jongeneel, 2012).…”

“…Additionally, this analysis allowed comparing how land managers have some attitudes that could be linked to particular behaviour, and how those groups of behaviours and attitudes are positioned in a multifunctional spectrum. In some types of land managers attitude-behaviour consistency was high, but the analysis also suggests that we must be cautious in the use of attitudes as prime predictors for behaviour since in some cases the consistency between attitudes and behaviours were low (Steel, 1996;Lichtenberg & Zimmerman, 1999;Selfa et al, 2008;Swanwick, 2009;Greiner et al, 2009). The results also show that different types of land managers are situated on different points of the productivist/non-productivist spectrum revealing as some authors stated (Wilson, 2001;Holmes, 2006;Burton & Wilson, 2006) that productivism and non-productivism can occur simultaneously, spatially as well as temporally.…”

Environmentally-Conscious Supply Chain Design in Support of Food Security

“…Other factors that influence success in adopting environmentally-sustainable practices include a farmer's personal value system, as well as consumer demands for sustainably produced food. Selfa et al (2008) suggest that a closer relationship between producers and consumers could help to encourage farmers to use environmentally-friendly production practices.…”